But
despite the brief respite, experts say the record drought is here to
stay.

The
El Nino weather phenomenon -- caused when a rise in the Pacific
Ocean's temperature triggers intense precipitation -- has provided
only "a band-aid on a gaping wound," says Julien
Emile-Geay, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Southern
California.

In
fact, restoring the state's water supplies to their pre-drought
levels would require several years of intense rain and snowfall.

The
water level barely equaled the average in the state's north this
winter. In the south, levels failed to rise enough to fill dried-out
rivers and aquifers.

The
drought crisis -- which has caused wildfires, decimated forests,
threatened animal species and deprived thousands of homes of access
to clean water -- is far from over, and the authorities of this vast
West Coast state say its 39 million residents had better get used to
the new reality of climate change.

A
quarter of the Sierra Nevada Mountains' snow cover -- essential for
feeding rivers and maintaining groundwater levels -- will disappear
by 2050, California's Department of Water Resources (DWR) predicts on
its website. Half will vanish by the turn of the century.

That
prospect is especially worrying because rising temperatures are also
increasing soil evaporation in America's most populous state.

Californians
aren't ready for "an increasingly dry climate with a population
that is continuing to grow without a long-term strategy to address
the imbalance," Emile-Geay says.

Others
agree.

Heather
Cooley of the Pacific Institute praises California for "tremendous
progress" by decreasing water use to less than its level 30
years ago.

But
she says the wealthy state has yet to turn the page on its culture of
abundance.

Governor
Jerry Brown's mandatory 25 percent water savings enacted a year ago
signaled the end of an era and earner widespread praise.

But
the state still sees a huge amount of water waste.

In
the middle of the Californian desert, golf courses in the opulent
resort city of Palm Springs abundantly water their greens during the
heat of midday while drainage pipes pour rivers of water down the
middle of streets.

-
Need for reflection -

The
authorities must employ financial incentives to encourage adoption of
more efficient toilets and appliances -- otherwise drastically
increase the price of water used after a certain limit is reached,
experts say.

In
a region where most urban consumption comes from watering gardens,
maintaining green lawns could become an unaffordable luxury.

Among
other failures, Californians do nothing to collect their rainwater.

Worse
still, "everything has been designed to drain water as quickly
as possible to avoid flooding," Emile-Geay says. "The water
doesn't have time even to wet the soil before it flows into the
ocean."

California
must accelerate recycling, desalination, and generally "reflect"
about its system of water rights, which he criticizes as inequitable,
archaic and encouraging of "more use than needed."

Farmers,
who consume some 40 percent of California's water, are also coming
under fire.

Fewer
than half have invested in water-conserving micro-irrigation systems.
Many grow water-intense crops such as almonds and alfalfa in the
middle of the desert.

Wholesale
water rationing for many has done little to discourage irrigation
because revenues from agriculture have stayed level and even reached
record levels in 2014, chiefly thanks to soaring commodity prices.

Bill
Diedrich farms walnuts, almonds and tomatoes in central California --
whose abundant agriculture has earned it the nickname "salad
bowl of the world" and where each farmer decide decides what to
grow according to what's profitable.

He
believes the solution must come from "engineering to better
collect and distribute the water we have."

Emile-Geay
says that won't be enough.

"If
you compare GDP per liter of water, growing alfalfa in California is
very inefficient" and viable only because of cheap prices for
water.

"Silicon
Valley consumes much less and generates more revenue," he says.
"If the agriculture industry paid the real price for water, it
wouldn't make sense to grow certain things."